Mocho

My experience is in construction, mostly concrete, a bit of framing etc. Getting out of it and want to get into something better, and Atco/Epcor seemed good. When I talked to Atco at the career fair they said they would be hiring in dec/jan for Utility Operator as it is their entry level position, but nothing yet. No experience relavent to the job other then operating some equipment like a skidsteer. I applied at Atco and Epcor for meter reader, but never heard anything. I was also considering Conductor with CN/CP, someone I know worked there for a bit and from the sounds of it was a very good job, they just didn't stay there to long. Even applied at a few shops to apprentice as a HD tech, but again want experience. At this point, I don't think I would turn down any good job, no matter what it was, even if I have to move to the middle of nowhere. Your job "needs" change a lot when the bank account is draining a lot faster then it's going up

Diesel Dave2

Got some bad news regarding CN.My relative works at CN for the last 24 years.He said they where doing rounds of layoffs which started in late 2008.So far they cut 1500 jobs Canada wide.But even with that keep appling..Have you tryed applying at Enmax??

Lil Dog

Great, probably their safety inspection and track repair crews!

Tate

I had a friend who was on the track repair crews, traveled a good chunk of western Canada, was able to do it between semesters at school. Its sad that they would be laying off the service you NEED like maitenance, instead of culling from the top down. Of course, thats just a pipe dream I continue to hang on to.

Mocho

I've been on their site every few days for probably 6 months and the position I applied for just recently opened, so i'm not to sure. All I know is I want to get back working.

Mike Holmen

Hard to believe that we aren't making money at $45 a barrel. I remember thinking at one time that $40 was lots of money for a barrell of oil. A 1 GJ of natural gas was getting around $2 cdn. The Canadian dollar was worth 0.67 US. We never thought that oil or natural gas would ever become such a big business. Lots of power moves going on. Sounds like science fiction, at one time the good jobs were all out in the east. You guys hear that Detroit town is only building electric cars, so who know if there will be of the oil industry.

cLAYH

Now is a good time to go to school. Think about taking some student loans or selling the truck to finance it. If you want to do HD look at NAITs 2 year HD technician program. You'll have no problem picking up a job after coming out of it.

If thats not what you want to do then figure out what you want then go find some introductory tech courses to get you in field. Once you've got some training its a LOT easier to land a job.

cLAYH

BTW if you are on EI sometimes you can get EI to pick up some of the cost to re-train.

Mocho

I refuse to sell my truck, I will loose to much and well I wouldn't end up with much anyways considering what I owe. I cannot collect EI because I currently work for my dad, and really only ever worked for him. I do plan to get more schooling, but want to also keep working. I think i'm going to put my snowmobile up for sale after my trip this weekend, so will have some extra money there, but I put probably 8 grand into my truck for mods this summer, and bought it used 2 summers ago, I would get raped so bad if I tried to sell it and i've spent so much time getting it exactly how I want.

Want I really want is a company willing to hire me as a laberour and work my way into an apprenticeship, all my buddies did it but it's just that there isn't much for jobs right now. Worst case I will have to work somewhere like Rona or Wal Mart till summer and more jobs pick up, eventully I will find something good.

Diesel Dave2

I don't blame you for not wanting to sell your truck.When I hit hard times(went through several),I had my 56 Chev and my 77 TA plus my daily driver,and there was no way in hell I was going to sell them all because money was tight.Was I stubborn....you bet.Owned the 56 since 81 and the TA since 86 and I dragged them with me all over Alberta...As you see.....I still have them.When you apply for a job,also offer that you will contract also,this may help also....I was a contractor for 9 years and really liked it...

Lil Dog

The Red Deer paper has alot of openings for more manual labour for well service companies like Canyon and PEAK, Cal-Frac. Also probably 4 HD Mechanic openings. I think you may be able to apprentice with them, who knows. If no one applies, they may be willing to take on someone with a good work ethic, unlike the youth of today.

Tate

If you want to get into a trade, take 3 months and get a pre-employment program. It will help you get your foot in the door, helps say you have a bit of experience. Its basically first year repeated, so it'll help when you go for school later. You might even be able to just skip first year school all together.

06RED-BARON

Remember that oil is used to make alot of other house hold items, and not just for putting into your cars and trucks. I think that the oil patch will always be there, just for now its going to be slow. I just had two head honcho's from Conoco Phillips come out to my rig the other day, they were saying that our oil reserves are full right now. Plus they figure that its going to be slow into 2010 before it picks up again. This is just what these guys told us, im hoping they are totally wrong. But for now im praying to the oil gods .

Diesel Dave2

Take this one with a grain of salt because its second hand news.Heard that Husky laidoff 200 people this morning.Don't know if this is in Calgary or company wide...

I'm sure full of doom and gloom...

Mocho

Yes you are LOL. I don't know if i'm getting to worried about it, I just know I don't want to run into money problems. The thing about a pre employment program I don't like is that it's money out of my pocket, and really no garantee for a job after. Basicly I just want a decent paying job that I can live with for probably 5 or so years, and get schooling for something better while working. I don't know what it is though, i've been with the same company for 4 1/2 years, and being 19 I think that is pretty dang good, but of probably 6-7 jobs i've applied for recently haven't ever heard a thing

I'm not totally desperate just don't want to do concrete full time this summer again, so sick of it!